Cake decoration - how can I make a flying pig?

[melpomene]

I intend to make my dh a birthday cake based on Pink Floyd's <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=4.bp.blogspot.com/_3xmPuvCQvHU/S_brjC1Dy3I/AAAAAAAADI4/t0NfunFZpmA/s320/Pink%2BFloyd%2B-%2BAnimals.jpg&imgrefurl=domcarlospear.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html&usg=__YG82p8_2FbIufCv4gmHqvXO6kyg=&h=300&w=300&sz=20&hl=en&start=0&sig2=vnvDnhKeqAJMcIDL46VtSQ&zoom=1&tbnid=YUrxMgmtPYWlUM:&tbnh=132&tbnw=132&ei=6aapTK_PGY_QjAfi3KDQDA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpink%2Bfloyd%2Banimals%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1B3GGLL_en-GBGB398GB398%26biw%3D1150%26bih%3D572%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=321&vpy=97&dur=2728&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=115&ty=100&oei=1KapTP3uPJXNjAei7qDtDA&esq=3&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">'Animals' album cover, which shows a flying pig over Battersea Power Station.

I've bought some plastic cake pillars which look like the chimneys. Those will go into the corners of a rectangular cake and my idea was to make a fondant pig and string it between 2 of the pillars using invisible thread. I just tested with a lump of fondant and the fondant is pretty heavy though, and the weight of it is pulling the pillars crooked. I'm also worried that the thread could snap.

Does anyone have any bright ideas about a better way of doing this? Is it possible to make a hollow pig out of gum paste? Or maybe I could use a ping pong ball or similar inside the body. I'd prefer the pig to be edible if possible, though!

Any suggestions appreciated!

Could you 'blow' an egg, by piercing each end and the yolk to remove the contents and then using the shell as a mould?

Would be lighter than all fondant, and might work without pulling down the pillars.

Please post a pic when it's done - feeling very down about cake 'cos I made 9 eggs worth of check cake this morning and the pigging aga spoilt it and had to throw it out.

You could put pig on wire and stick wire into cake (the way these decorations are wired) rather than stringing it between towers. You may need to experiment with the gauge of wire, although the pig only needs to be quite small looking at album cover picture.

Thanks. Interesting ideas,; I think I'll experiment some more tomorrow. (Still at trial run stage.)

I'm using a bit of artistic licence so the pig is going to be proportionally bigger than the album cover and I'm not reproducing the details on the building. (Birthday is on Sunday and I shan't have much time on Fri / Sat to make it.)

Last year I made him a cake based on the Dark Side of the Moon album cover; that was fun.

You can make much lighter bits for cakes out of rice krispie treats, where you melt marshmallows and a bit of butter and stir in RKs. While it is still warm it is easily moulded snd then sets. You can make a bigger rough shape and then carve it when it's dry, and thinly ice, if you're a perfectionist, or squodge it together then cover it in a thin skin of fondant if you're not. For a big round thing like this you might even be able to mould it round a thing like a ping pong ball for extra lightness.